Legal-tech startup Jhana.ai, leveraging artificial intelligence, has successfully raised $1.6 million in a seed funding round led by Together Fund, a venture capital firm. The funding attracted notable investors including Shyamal Anadkat from OpenAI, former VMware executive Scott Davis, Kunal Shah of Cred, and Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar. Angel investors Cory Levy and Ojas Shukla also participated in this round.
Established at Harvard, Jhana.ai is currently beta testing its AI legal assistants with lawyers, law firms, and in-house legal teams throughout the country. The funds raised will be directed towards the creation of proprietary datasets and the development of AI models, alongside recruiting experts in both law and artificial intelligence.
The startup indicated that an additional portion of the funding related to India is nearing closure and will be announced shortly. This funding comes at a critical juncture for India’s legal system, which is grappling with an overwhelming backlog of nearly 5 crore pending cases. By integrating AI into legal services, Jhana.ai aims to enhance accessibility and efficiency within the sector.
“I aspire to create technology that democratizes access to justice, intelligence, and strategic resources for those who rely on our legal system,” stated Em McGlone, co-founder of Jhana.ai.
This funding round is particularly significant given the recent downturn in investment for AI startups in India, which reported only $8.2 million in the April-June quarter—an 82% decline compared to the previous year—while the U.S. attracted a staggering $27 billion in the same timeframe.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Krutrim AI, another prominent AI startup in India, raised $50 million in a funding round led by Matrix Partners India, achieving a valuation of $1 billion.